Fw: Virginian in 1907 -- Tunnel

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Could it have been left open as a ventilation shaft  ?   Seems to me a LOT of 
smoke would accumulae in a tunnel that long.
 
Neil K. Yerger Wayne PA
 
audreyly at aol.com  
 
 
In a message dated 6/9/2008 9:45:46 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

Since posting my message below, I have been intrigued by  the shaft that was 
dug midway of the Virginian's Allegheny tunnel so that  digging could proceed 
both ways from the center as well as proceeding at both  ends.  A Virginian 
track chart reveals that the depth of the tunnel at  about midpoint is close to 
100 feet below the surface of the ground at that  point.  This shaft would had 
to have been equipped with some means of  lowering men and tools and raising 
the excavated material.
 
When the shaft was no longer needed, was it just capped  or was it backfilled 
with the excavated material?  If the latter, what  care was needed to prevent 
rocks in the backfill material from damaging  the tunnel roof after falling 
100  feet.  Maybe the answer was to only backfill with rock-free dirt,  
although a supply of dirt might have been scarce because the lower part  of the shaft 
and the tunnel probably went through mostly rock.   Anyone know what would be 
typically done with a disused shaft like  this?
 
Gordon Hamilton
 
----- Original Message -----  
From: _Gordon Hamilton_ (mailto:gordonshamilton at cox.net)  
To: _2VGN Ry Yahoo  Group_ 
(mailto:VirginianRailwayEnthusiasts at yahoogroups.com)  ; _N&W Mailing 2List_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org)  
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2008 10:25 PM
Subject: Virginian in 1907 -- Tunnel



Complete Allegheny Tunnel  Early Next Year
------
Meeting Occurred Last Week  of Forces Cutting the Two Eastern Headings.
------
FIVE THOUSAND FEET LONG AND  TIMBER LINED THROUGHOUT
------
    The meeting occurred last  week, 1,645 [blurred; best interpretation 
shown] feet from the east  portal and 1,220 feet from the shaft, of the two 
eastern headings of the  Allegheny summit tunnel of the Virginian railway, near 
Christiansburg, marking  the practical completion of the arch or heading.
    The tunnel has been worked  both ends and both ways, from a shaft near 
the centre [sic].  On February  23, 1906, excavations from the tunnel proper was 
begun at the east end; late  in April, 1906, from the shaft and west end.  On 
May 4th, of this year,  the west headings came together.  In both ends of the 
tunnel now steam  shovels are at work excavating the lower rectangular 
portion, or bench, east  and west from the shaft.  Forces will soon begin to remove 
the  "bench."  MacArthur Bros. Co. expect to complete the tunnel early in  
1908.
    The tunnel is 5,140 feet  long and lined with timber throughout.  A 
variety of rock is penetrated  by the tunnel, from a hard brown shale and sandstone 
at the west end, to a  soft decomposed limestone east of the shaft; ledges of 
hard limestone have  been encountered also.  Throughout nearly the entire 
course, great  inconvenience has been caused the forces at work, by the rush of 
water; five  powerful pumps have been required to keep the heading faces free 
enough from  water, in order to work them.  The grade slopes from the west end  
downward to the east, the summit being at the west portal.  The tunnel is  so 
well graded that when completed it will drain all of the water out of its  
east end.  Great care has been taken in the instrumental work of aligning  and 
leveling; measuring has been done with much care and repeatedly checked,  but 
the result has fully repaid the trouble.
    East of the shaft the  variations, as determined by checking, after 
breaking through, were just  one-hundredth of a foot in elevation, and 
fourteenth-hundredths in  measurement.  The superintendent in charge of construction is 
Mr. Pat  Ford.  The resident engineer is Mr. D. E. Hall.
 
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
July 30, 1907
 
[The tunnel today has concrete lining and  facades.]
 
Gordon  Hamilton


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